My first year teaching English in South Korea I put $5,000 towards my student loans and came home for the summer with another $5,000 to put in my US bank account. The second year I requested a deference on my student loans and came home from Korea with not a penny to my name.

Teaching ESL overseas for the last six years I’ve learned a lot from my own experiences and heard a lot of positive stories as well as a good share of horror stories from other ESL teachers.

However, if you want to live overseas for a year or two and save a good chunk of money, I still recommend South Korea. Be careful though! Korea is the easiest place for someone to get a job teaching English overseas, so don’t take the first school that chooses you. You choose the job!

Yes, that’s what I said. Don’t necessarily take that first job offer. This is an odd concept for most people, especially in a time when jobs aren’t the easiest things to come by. We get in the habit of accepting a less than desirable job with vigor just because we need the money.

If you’re fresh out of college or just want to take a year off to do something different, look into teaching in Korea, but there are a few things to remember.

First of all, there are a few basics that nearly every teaching job in Korea will offer, and if the job offer doesn’t include these things, move on. You should get fully paid round-trip airfare. Most likely you will have to complete a one year contract to get the trip home, but you shouldn’t be asked to pay anything upfront for the plane ticket. Also, the school should sponsor your visa and take care of all of the paperwork for you.

In general the school pays for your visa. If they do require that you pay for your own visa you can ask to pay later and most schools will be willing to deduct it from your first paycheck. If you take a job at the last minute and there isn’t time to process your visa before going to Korea, the school might offer to send you on a visa run to Japan. This is usually a day trip that the school pays for. You fly to Japan in the morning, go to the office to get your visa, and fly back to Korea at night. It sounds like a lot of work to me! My visa was processed in the states before I left, but I started the process several months early. Some people get offered a job that starts immediately and have little choice. I’ve had many friends who did the visa run to Japan. In general it’s tiring and a bit of a hassle, but it doesn’t seem to be a nightmare.

If the last-minute-ness of your trip is because you are just ready to go, that’s one thing. But if it’s because the school needs a teacher NOW, you might want to ask, what happened to the old teacher? Why doesn’t anyone want to work there? Why didn’t they have time to replace someone? In fairness to the schools, it might not be their fault. Some people just can’t handle the culture shock and homesickness and hightail it back home without warning.

Make sure to ask a lot of questions. Know exactly what will happen when you get to Korea. When you arrive at the airport someone from the school should meet you. You shouldn’t have to get off a 19 hour flight and then find some random bus in a country where you don’t speak the language, and a good school knows that. They should greet you, preferably stop and get you some dinner, and take you to your apartment.

Your housing should be fully paid for and fully furnished. Most housing is shared with another teacher from your school, but it’s not difficult to find jobs that also offer private housing. However, if you’re just out of college and you get a roommate who is easy to get a long with, it can be a lot better than living alone in a foreign country. Although some people just prefer the privacy.

You’ll have to pay for your phone bill and probably electricity and/or gas, but the school should cover everything else. When you get there you should have a bed with clean sheets, towels (preferably new), a fully functioning kitchen with burners (don’t plan on having an oven, it’s not a Korean standard), utensils, pots, pans, a rice cooker, an iron, and probably a phone. Some schools offer quite a bit more, like a computer with internet connection, but in general your apartment should at least be livable when you arrive. Remember, the electrical outlets are not the same, so there’s no point in bringing anything that needs to be plugged in, unless you want to find converters, which really isn’t worth the hassle.

The apartment should be within walking distance of the school. If it isn’t, the school should provide you with a transportation pass. Make sure you know how far the housing is from the school before you take the job, and make sure the school knows exactly where they are going to put you! It’s not uncommon to hear about teachers spending a week or more in a hotel waiting for a place to live, everything they own crammed into two suitcases, and then being expected to teach with oppressive jet lag to go along with it. You shouldn’t have to deal with that.

Do not take a job unless you talk to the teachers who actually work there! If a school is unable to put you in contact with any of their teachers, it’s a problem. Often you can get the email address of a few of the teachers and you can ask them about the school. Try to talk to the teacher you’ll be replacing. Most likely they completed their year contract and are just ready to go home, but if they’re leaving because the school is intolerable you better find out! Also, try to talk to more than one teacher. Everyone has a different perspective. Three is a good number, but some schools are small and only have one or two teachers. However, if you’re going to Seoul, there will likely be several teachers at your school.

As for being in Seoul or not, that’s completely up to you. There are jobs all over South Korea. It’s not a huge country, but the landscape and atmosphere is drastically different depending on where you go. I taught in Seoul for a year and a half and in a small village for six months. Living in the village, I made a lot of wonderful Korean friends and greatly improved my Korean, but often the steadier jobs are in the cities.

The major cities where most ESL jobs are in Korea are Seoul, Pusan (Busan), Daejeon (Taejeon), Daegu (Taegu). Kwangju, Inchon, and Ulsan. Remember, there are about 10 million people in Seoul and the other large cities have between 1-3 million. If you’re looking to mingle with a lot of foreigners, shop, and go out dancing and drinking until 6am then the cities are for you. But if you’re looking to get more involved in the language and traditional culture of Korea, the countryside is still fairly rustic in many places. You may also see job offers in Jeju-do (Cheju-do, or Cheju Island) which is a unique and beautiful island off the south of the Korean peninsula with its own culture and dialect.

Where you live also effects how much you make. If you live in a major city, especially Seoul, you will make more money. If you are fresh out of college with no teaching experience a job in Seoul should offer about 1.9 million won per month. If you’re making Korean won right now the exchange rate is good. 1.9 million won is about $2,000 USD. Between 1.8-2.0 million is reasonable if you’re just starting out. An experienced teacher in Seoul should make around 2.2 million won and up. If you are outside of the city expect to make a little bit less in general. However, the pay for teachers in Korea is constantly rising, and it’s not impossible that you would be able to find a job making 2.3 million won or more. In fact, some small town jobs are offering more than city jobs in an attempt to lure foreigners who usually stick close to the city. The problem is that smaller communities can’t always afford to support your high salary and these schools can go bankrupt.

When choosing a job in Korea, try to be as thorough as possible, and remember that you are entering into a contract with them. If you walk out on your contract you could get “blacklisted�? with immigration, which could prevent you from getting a different job in Korea someday. Your visa is directly linked to your employment, and that’s important to remember.

If you know what you’re getting into, teaching ESL for a year in Korea can be a unique opportunity. Most schools offer reasonable vacation time as well, and many teachers use this time to visit the Korean coasts and mountains and to explore other parts of Asia. To get started check out: http://www.eslcafe.com/jobs/korea.

If you’d like answers to any specific questions or some particular advice about teaching English overseas leave a comment and I’ll get back to you.